AN: Here is the second chapter for today. If you haven't read it, go back, I can wait. Did you read it? Good. Now we are sprinting to the end.
Harumi kept her smile on her face, when really she wanted to run away screaming. That tone in his voice. The way it rolled over her, like rolling thunder in the distance, chilled her to the bone.
This, she thought, is the Madara Uchiha of legend. The monster used to scare misbehaving children. The one who almost destroyed the Leaf Village.
"Is the great Madara Uchiha no longer a man of his word? Does the Uchiha honor mean so little to you that you would lie to one of your own family members?" Itachi spit out. His words as fiery as Madara's were icy.
"Ah, so you will acknowledge me, young Uchiha?"
Itachi shrugged, "It doesn't matter if I do or not, if you are the real Madara Uchiha, then you are family. Therefore what you do or don't do, reflects on all of us."
"Do you dare lecture me on honor?" Madara frowned.
Itachi shrugged again, "I don't dare anything. I merely asked a question."
"Damn," Yugao hissed.
Harumi had to agree as the two Uchihas engaged in the politest scolding she had seen. Itachi was scolding Madara as if he were a child, and Madara knew it! Yet Madara didn't react in the way Harumi would, or even her siblings. They just got more and more polite. Their voices sounded bored.
"As your elder, I understand honor in a way you never will, young Uchiha. I was once like you, the star of the Uchiha clan. The one that had all the clan's hopes and dreams pinned on them. The one that was to bring a new world order. How does it feel to know that you are just like me?"
"In order to be like you, I will need to betray everything I believe in," Itachi fired back.
"Is that what you think I did?"
"Well, I mean, you are the scary thing that goes bump in the night," Harumi butted in. She needed Madara to be kept off balance. She needed him to do something other than sit in that chair and lecture them.
Madara's face turned to face her fully, "I'm the what?"
Well now she needed to finish what she started. "Madara Uchiha is a legend that is used to scare children. A cautionary tale of what not to be."
"After all I've done, this is how I'm remembered?" he hissed.
"You did try to destroy the Leaf Village," Yugao waded into this conversation.
"That isn't all I did!" Madara yelled.
Harumi bit the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling. There it was, the chink in his armor. It took a little longer to get there, but they found it. How does that old saying go, beware the arrogance of old men? Or maybe that was just something her aunt said to make Uncle mad. Either way, it worked today.
However before the three of them could do anything, a flurry of leaves flew around the small group. When they settled, Tenzo and Shishui stood in front of them.
"How nice of you to join the party," Itachi whispered.
"Was that a joke, cousin? Because if it was, you need to work on your delivery," Shishui whispered back.
"Is this a party?" Yugao asked no one in particular.
Harumi snickered.
"Oh, how lovely. Another family member. And who is this?" Madara asked.
"Yes, another Uchiha and this is Tenzo, the final member of the team," Yugao answered. "One would think you wouldn't need us to tell you these things. I mean, you have eyes and it isn't like the Sharingan isn't on display." Yugao waved her hand in Shishui's direction.
Harumi snickered, drawing Madara's wrathful glare.
"What are they teaching you young children these days? In my day we did not call our elders old, blind or dumb."
Harumi shrugs, "We are far removed from your day. Besides, you keep calling us young, but all of us are fully grown shinobi. We are allowed to do just about anything, so long as we complete our mission and don't start wars."
"Which if the stories are true, then you couldn't even do that, so really, who should be lecturing whom on what proper behavior is," Yugao finished.
"I would be very careful with what you say. You are not part of my clan and I have no reason to keep you alive," Madara threatened.
"And we are back to the beginning of this conversation. Repeating conversations is a sign of getting senile, Madara. Would you like me to check your health to make sure you are doing okay? Maybe I could run an easy test to make sure that your cognitive abilities are still on par? Did they do cognitive tests when you were an active shinobi?" Harumi asked, keeping her eyes wide and her tone sugar sweet.
Harumi moved away from the group, as if to go over and give Madara a medical checkup. Mostly she was giving Itachi time to fill in the two who just showed up.
"No! I don't need a cognitive checkup. My mind is sound!" Madara seethed.
"I believe you," Harumi's tone made her words a lie.
"How dare you! I am Madara Uchiha. The greatest shinobi who has ever lived!"
"Of course you were," Harumi agreed, sliding over a little more. Just a few more feet and she would be within touching distance of Madara. She might be able disrupt the chakra flowing through his body, just enough for Itachi or Shishui to eliminate him.
Madara glared, rising slightly from his chair, "What do you mean were?"
"Well you have Obito running around doing your bidding. You sit there instead of engaging when Obito, your student, is getting his ass kicked by someone he called a friend. So one could assume that while you were great, and your greatness, like the great shinobis of old, is lost to time."
"What did you say to me?!" Madara roared, practically leaping from his chair.
"I mean," Harumi shrugged, "if the slipper fits."
A lot of things happened in between one blink and the next. First, Shishui appeared behind Madara, his kunai digging into his throat. Next Itachi was in front of Harumi, his back straight and his hands held loosely at his side. At the same time Madara went deathly still.
Harumi, braced for an impact that never happened, looked at the three Uchihas, who all were still, staring unblinking into the void.
Taking a few steps over to Tenzo and Yugao, Harumi whispered, "What should we do?"
"If all goes according to plan, Itachi has Madara trapped in a genjutsu. Shishui should be working on making sure Madara is immobilized and can be killed if Itachi fails," Tenzo answered.
"Why can't he just kill him now?" Harumi asked.
"It is an honor thing," Yugao sighed, her voice resigned.
"So we just wait?" Harumi cried, her frustration evident.
"It shouldn't be long," Yugao replied, "Time moves differently in there."
"So how does Shishui know what is going on?"
"Oh, he is in the genjutsu with Itachi and Madara. Basically it is the two of them against Madara," Yugao tilted her head, "Actually I'm shocked Madara hasn't pulled himself out of it by now. For a guy that is supposedly all powerful, he is getting his ass kicked by his own tricks."
Harumi shrugged, but was also worried about what was going on. But just in case, she decided to walk closer to Madara and Shishui. The salty smell of blood filled her nose as she got closer. Madara has a small cut on his neck where Shishui's kunai was held. Harumi watched as Madara's forehead broke out in a sweat, Shishui's hand tightened around the handle, digging the kunai into Madara's neck just a little more.
Knowing that she can't touch Madara, lest she would break the genjutsu, Harumi worried the slow bleeding from the cut would be enough to jar him out of Itachi's genjutsu.
Before she could do more than blink, Madara and Shishui gasped. Madara's gaze sharpened in a heart beat. Harumi gasped and took her hand and shoved it in the direction of Shishui's kunai, to shove it deeper into Madara's neck.
But before she could do more than put her hand up, Shishui pulled the kunai across Madara's neck, opening the skin.
Madara gurgled something.
Shishui shoved the dying man onto the ground and pulled Harumi out of the way as Itachi walked over and putting his fingers in front of his mouth, blew a giant fireball that engulfed Madara.
Covering her nose and mouth to try and ward off the smell of burning flesh, Harumi moved away as Shishui added his own fire to Itachi's.
Feeling the air move next to her, Harumi glanced over and saw Tenzo and Yugao moved to stand next to her. The three of them watched as the two Uchiha boys continually added fire to the burning body of their ancestor.
After what seemed like hours, Itachi and Shishui cut off their fire. Both boys were covered in sweat, chests heaving as they tried to catch their breaths.
"It's over, little cuz," Shishui breathed, as he placed his hand on Itachi's shoulder.
"Is it?" Itachi asked.
"It is, because there can be no rebellion if there is no leader to lead it. The hard part is finished."
"Rebellion?" Harumi asked.
Her question seemed to jolt the two out of what ever world they were lost in. Shishui grinned, while Itachi blushed. Harumi tried not to grin at the very uncharacteristic side of Itachi.
"Something you want to share with the class?" Yugao asked.
"We will tell you later," Shishui answered.
"Anyone else think this was very anticlimactic?" Tenzo asked.
"What do you mean?" Itachi asked.
"Well Madara is this huge big bad guy and we were able to defeat him with a genjutsu and some attitude. It should have been harder than that."
Harumi laughed, "Well what did you want? A war that unites the whole shinobi world?"
Tenzo shrugged, "Well that would have been epic."
Itachi shrugged, "While this was Madara, he was greatly diminished from what he used to be. Most of his chakra was going towards just keeping him alive. He is lucky to have made it this far, to be honest."
Harumi walked over to Itachi, "Let me make sure you and Shishui don't have any injuries. I know that it was in a genjutsu, but we all know that those injuries can make their way onto the body."
"Check Shishui first. He is the one that traveled to Rain in the belly of a frog," Itachi answered, not even trying to argue.
Harumi nodded and moved closer to Shishui, "Do you want to tell me what I should look for?"
Shishui gave Harumi a purely roguish grin, "Now where is the fun in that?"
Sighing loudly, Harumi slowly ran her hand up Shishui's arm, over his shoulder to his other arm. Checking the flow of chakra in his system. Chakra, much like blood would rush to an area that was injured, to help it, either heal, or just keep the injury from getting worse. Not finding anything significant. Harumi pushed a little with her chakra to see if there were minor injuries, something that would be like a small cut, where the initial injury got some help, but it was cushioned quickly.
Ah, there it is, Harumi thought to herself, finding a nice ball of chakra around a couple ribs. Focusing she knit the ribs together enough that they could run without Shishui being in danger of his ribs puncturing his lungs.
"You will need to wrap your ribs tight for a little while, but you are patched enough for us to run home," Harumi told him as she pulled her hand away, watching as the faint green glow faded.
"You're up next Itachi, you want to tell me where you are hurt?"
Itachi held out his arms, "It should just be my forearms, I was mostly blocking, while my cousin got kicked around."
Harumi rolled her eyes as Shishui sputtered, "This is the thanks I get?"
Harumi held her chakra covered hand out and moved it around Itachi's arms, finding bruising, but nothing broken she ran her hand up his shoulder and pushed. Like Shishui Itachi had a fractured rib and extensive bruising around his stomach. Knitting the fracture together and directing more chakra to help heal the bruises, Harumi pulled away.
"You also need to wrap your ribs."
Yugao reached into her bag and pulled out two long pieces of cloth, "Harumi, you get Itachi and I'll take care of the other one."
"Hey!" Shishui yelped.
Tenzo laughed relieved.
After wrapping both Uchiha's ribs and them putting on their shirts and their ANBU armor, we all took a small breath.
"There you are!" came a booming voice from behind them, "Maybe you can tell us what happened here?"
The whole group spun around and saw a group of people, Jiraya was in the middle with an orange haired boy on one side and a purple haired girl on the other .
"Oh look, I see you found Harumi-chan, that's good. Where is Kakashi?" Jiraya asked.
One by one, the group looked at Harumi, who sighed, "We don't know."
"What do you mean you don't know? He was here right?"
"Yes, but Tobi, who is really Obito Uchiha, took Kakashi somewhere, but we don't know where that is."
"So why aren't you looking for him?" Jiraya demanded.
"Honestly, we just finished killing Madara," at this, Harumi gestured to the black pile of ash, "and making sure everyone isn't going to die from their injuries. So we haven't had the time to figure it out."
"Good one," Shishui muttered.
"Quiet!" Yugao hissed. "Do you want to get in trouble?"
"Well technically, the mission is complete, we have Harumi," Itachi stated, "Kakashi was clear that Harumi was the priority."
"Well good for him," Harumi complained, "I mean it isn't like he has a kid waiting for him at home."
Itachi shrugged, "I don't know what to tell you, Harumi."
"Don't worry, I know all about Kakashi's tendencies," she answered. "Jiraya? Who is with you? And would they know where Tobi took Kakashi?"
"Oh these are two of my former students," he boomed, "And I don't know, do you?" Jiraya asked, his head moving between the two people next to him.
"Tobi is…"
"What a minute," Jiraya interrupted, "What do you mean Tobi is Obito? Obito died a long time ago."
"You killed Madara?" soft voice asked.
"What what?!" Jiraya exclaimed.
This time Harumi wondered if it was possible to roll her eyes any further back into her head. "Really Jiraya, are you even paying attention to what is going on?"
"Hey! Not my fault you are saying things that are amazing and hard to believe in the same breath."
"Yes," Harumi's eyes turned to the girl in front of her, although really she shouldn't be called a girl, because she looked to be close to her age. "Madara is dead, at least as dead as two pissed off Uchihas can make someone," Harumi pointed to the ashes on the ground.
"How do we know you aren't lying to us?" The orange haired man asked.
Harumi shrugged, "I have no reason to lie to you. Believe me or not."
"Do you know where Tobi could have have taken Kakashi-tachio?" Itachi asked, bending forward at just the right angle to make his bow look formal.
"Tobi has his own world, a place he can go into. He once said that was how he got from place to place so quickly, because his special world isn't tied to one space," the orange haired man answered.
"Is there a way for us to get there?" Shishui asked.
"I don't know," was the extremely unhelpful answer.
"Any ideas?" Yugao asked.
Harumi looked around and saw lots of shoulder shrugging and head shaking.
"So we are just going to wait here?" Harumi asked.
"Looks like it," Shishui answered. "Unless you have an idea of how Obito's Sharingan works."
AN: Alright folks, here we are. The next chapter I upload will be the first ending, then a small Omake, to help with a transition, then I'll post the last ending. I expect to have all of that uploaded on the same day, or maybe over two days? I guess we will see what happens when I upload, unless any of you have an opinion, if so, leave it in the comments.
I hope you have enjoyed this ride with me. Thank you all for the comments and follows. You will never know just how much all of it has meant to me. Thank you again.